Most articles that looked into this were quite old in Tech terms eg 2009 and similar http://www.pcworld.com/article/184974/new_printer_replacement_ink.html. However, even now based on Ink Costs and what you can pay for a printer it seems that it is still cheaper, even with the fact of Starter Ink Cartridges, to buy a printer than it is to buy the ink alone.
A few specials that have been on recently have had printers at around $15 to $20 so even if the starter inks were about 1/2 full you would be well in front with most black inks costing from around $25 upwards and you would also need to buy the colour cartridges which start around $30 each.
The bad side of purchasing printers to do this is the environmental impact of the throw out goods. This, I think, is a much more serious issue than the cost of the ink.
CHOICE has just released a printer review (member content), including the annual ink cost and speed test. If you have any questions about the report, let me know.
We have 4 EpsonEcoTank printers and Love them. The refillable tanks on the side are marvellous. You can see how much ink is left, found them not expensive as per NubglummerySnr. We purchased the biggest & most expensive at just under $600 but it does 2 sides automatically and is excellent for printing 100s without the inconvenience of either filling or changing cartridges. Would not purchase any other brand - it was always Canon before that as they do take ‘generic ink’
We’re still on just about full tank levels after all this time with the EcoTank. As previously mentioned though, the only drawback with the Epson EcoTank inks is that they are water based and the ink will basically wash clean off the paper if it gets wet, so we discovered when one of our sons ended up with a blank piece of paper that used to be a printed school bus timetable after he left it in the front pocket of his backpack on a rainy day.
I had the same problem, I had a HP printer, bought a ‘compatible’ ink, stuffed up the printer, now too scared to use anything except the same brand as printer - it’s a wraught alright.
The was the norm for a while. My recent Brother purchase had the carts marked as “starters” but they lasted more than 6 months with my amount of printing.
I use compatible inks and have only had two bad experiences, ever. One was a bad lot of chips where the printer would not recognise the cartridge (refunded by the ebay vendor), and the other was an ink that got credit for stuffing up the print head. Comparing OEM and compatible inks over a decade at a set per annum can be $1,000-$1,500 p.a. OEM, or $400 for quality after market compatibles. The economics are tantalising for most. Depending on price points you could do 4 to 8 printers in the decade and still be even.
I bought a FujiXerox CM305DF colour laser printer/copier/scanner for home use, about 4 years ago. It cost around 360$ delivered (and this is a big chunk of metal and plastic, probably 30kg, so that was good). I’ve put a lot of pages through it, and done a lot of scanning and some copying …
Since around Jan 17, it’s started bleating about the black toner being nearly gone. I was beginning to think it had divine intervention or some toner-pixie was visiting and refilling it. It’s still going, and I have a third party replacement toner (black only) ready to go for when it finally refuses to print. The brochure says 6 reams of paper for each toner, thats obviously based on a complex concoction of averages and print densities and alignment of the stars, but I reckon I’ve done at least 12 reams total in that time … thats 6c a sheet plus the (minor) cost of the sheet if I threw it in the bin now.
Also, I bought it on a deal with 3 years onsite warranty …
The replacement - a CM315 - is still a high(er) price (under $500 though), and while mine is working faultlessly I’ve no need to consider it. That said, I think I’d pay the $500 based on my experience so far (I know others who bought this model who had similar experiences).
I played with compatibles, and the Rihac CISS system. I remember giving myself a facial with the cyan from a Rihac refill - my fault, somehow developed much pressure in the resevoir - ever tried to get that stuff off your skin?
No I didn’t look that good, but I was “bluer” !!! Can’t say I miss messing around with ink …
With all the Canon printers we have used over years (until we discovered Ecotanks!) we purchased bulk ink & refilled the particular Canon cartridges Very successfully. We found that HP were impossible to ‘trick’ but any Canon printer no matter how cheap - all cartridges could be refilled. Anyone with a Canon should try this. When the cheap printer stops working just purchase another Canon - cheapest one & use the same bulk ink.
